Machine for continuously filling containers

ABSTRACT

A machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material having a vibratory feeder pan with a longitudinally elongated slot. A longitudinal container conveyor extends beneath the slot for its entire length. Vibration of the pan causes particulate material to move longitudinally along the pan toward the edges of the slot where the material drops into the moving containers on the conveyor.

United States Patent Pleus et a1. Apr. 2, 1974 [541 MACHINE FOR CONTINUOUSLY FILLING 2,783,784 3/1957 Miller cl :1]. 141/131 X CONTANERS 2,320,227 5/1943 Frey 209/99 3,534,787 10/1970 Heck 141/131 Inventors! Edwin Pleus, Sun Prairie, 1,383,281 7/1921 Bailey 222/196 53590; Dennis 0. Mietzel, Columbus 53925 Primary Examiner-Houston S. Bell, Jr. 22 Filed; Man 10, 1972 Assistant Examiner-Frederick R. Schmidt Attorney, Agent, or FirmTheodore J. Long; John M. [21] Appl. No.: 233,492 winter [52] US. Cl 141/131, 141/177, 222/502 [57] ABSTRACT [51] Int. Cl B65b 1/08 l 58 Field of Search 141/67, 131-134, A "P 1 511mg 141]]77 324, 367, 198/61, 204, 205, particulate material having a vibratory feeder pan with 220 BA; 209/99; 222/157, 163, 196 216, a longitudinally elongated slot. A longitudinal con- 217 226, 241 502 tainer conveyor extends beneath the slot for its entire length. Vibration of the pan causes particulate mate- [56] References Cited rial to move longitudinally along the pan toward the UNITED STATES PATENTS edges of the slot where the material drops into the moving containers on the conveyor. 3,587,674 6/1971 Adkin 141/134 X 2,321,742 6/1943 Garcia 209/99 13 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures MACHINE FOR CONTINUOUSLY FILLING CONTAINERS BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 1. Field of the Invention This invention relates to container filling machines, and more particularly to machines for continuously filling containers with particulate materials.

2. Description of Prior Art Various filling machines have been developed for continuously filling containers with particulate materials, particularly food materials such as fruits and vegetables. One common container filling machine is the rotary drum type wherein containers are conveyed longitudinally through an elongated cylindrical drum with lifting buckets on the internal periphery of the drum. As the drum rotates, particulate material supplied to the drum is lifted from the bottom of the drum to the upper portion of the drum by the buckets and dropped onto a funnel or trough emptying into the moving containers. Particulate material which is not retained in the containers falls again to the bottom of the drum where it continues to recirculate until it eventually is received by a container. Such machines are relatively complex and expensive, present access and cleaning problems with respect to the structure encompassed by the rotating drum, and involve an undesirably high degree of recycling with respect to certain food products.

Another filling device which has been developed for use with particulate material employs an oscillating conveyor to feed particulate material over the end of the conveyor into containers conveyed at right angles to the oscillating conveyor. Because the direction of oscillation of the feeder is perpendicular to the direction of travel of the containers the device involves substantial recycling of product. The entire feeding apparatus extends at right angles to the container conveyor and subsequent handling equipment and occupies a substantial amount of additional space. Accordingly, such machines are of limited usefulness where space is restricted or where layout considerations prevent the use of equipment units which extend at right angles to a container line.

Another prior art development is a pork dropper which employs a feeding mechanism with a closed end vibratory conveyor trough having a hole at the end. The trough delivers at least one piece of pork to each container while the container pauses at the delivery station. This pork dropper is designed to supply a very limited quantity of pork to a container which will otherwise be substantially filled with beans, and is not suitable as a primary filler for containers on a continuous high speed production basis.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION Basically, our invention comprises a machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material on a high speed production basis. Our machine employs a vibratory feeder pan having an elongated feed slot located over a longitudinal can conveyor. The longitudinal axis of the feed slot is parallel to and immediately above the longitudinal axis of the conveyor. The feeder pan is supplied through a hopper having its outlet at one end of the pan. A metering gate on the hopper is adjustable to control the release of material from the hopper to the pan in a constant manner. The pan is vibrated by means of a vibratory drive unit to cause particulate material to move longitudinally along the pan. The material on the pan is crowded toward the longitudinal side edges of the elongated slot by plows or other means so that the material will drop over the longitudinal edges of the slot into the moving containers positioned directly below the slot. By regulating the rate at which the material is fed to the pan, and the rate at which the containers travel the length of the longitudinal slot, the amount of material being delivered to the cans can be closely controlled. The width of the slot is adjustable to efficiently accomodate various types of products and sizes of cans. Material passing through the slot which does not drop into the containers may be returned to the hopper or feed pan by any suitable conveyor system.

It is an object of the present invention to provide a machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material which can be closely controlled to fill continuously moving containers to a desired level with a minimum of product spillage, overfill and recycling.

It is a further object of the present invention to provide a filling machine which is compact and which requires a minimum of space in a direction perpendicular to the container conveyor line.

It is a still further object of the present invention to provide a container filling machine which is easily accessible for inspection and cleaning.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a container filling machine which is simple and economical to manufacture.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a partially schematic side view of our invention with a portion of the feeder pan and hopper broken out to show the interior thereof.

FIG. 2 is an end view of our invention.

FIG. 3 is a section view of our invention taken along offset section line 3-3 of FIG. 1.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of the feeder pan of our invention.

FIG. 5 is a section view taken along section line 5-5 of FIG. 3.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring now more particularly to the drawings, wherein like numerals refer to like parts throughout the several views, out container filling machine is generally indicated by reference number 10 in FIG. 1. Our filling machine is seen to include a supply chute 33 for delivering particulate material to a supply hopper 19. The supply hopper 19 is positioned above the closed end 21 of the feeder pan 11 with the hopper outlet end 20 extending below the vertical sides 13 and closed end 21 of the 'feeder pan.

The elongated feeder pan 11 has an elongated feed slot 12 extending longitudinally from the opposite end of the pan. A slot 12 is preferably located midway between the sides 13 of the pan 11. A slot adjustment plate 14 is secured to the bottom of the feeder pan ll underlying each longitudinal edge 15 of feed slot 12 in adjustable relation. The plates 14 may be moved inwardly from the longitudinal edges 15 of the elongated slot 12 to effectively reduce the width of the slot 12 and provide secondary longitudinal edges 15a for directing the product into the underlying container 16, as best viewed in FIG. 3. The adjustment plates 14 are secured to the feeder pan 11 through transverse slots 17 by bolt and nut assemblies 18. The adjustment plates 14 may be designed to provide a feed slot 12 of any desired width, a typical range being 2 to 6 inches.

In the preferred embodiment, a drive housing 26 extends upwardly from the feeder pan 11 to a vibratory drive unit 27 mounted thereon. The illustrated drive unit 27 is an electromagnetic drive of known construction. The electromagnet, energized by pulsating current, attracts a spring mounted armature mass connected to the feeder pan 11. The feeder pan 11 is pulled upwardly and forwardly with the armature mass. When the electromagnet is de-energized, the internal springs return the armature mass and feeder pan to their original positions. This action is repeated 3,600 times per minute when operating from 60 cycle, alternating current. Variable speed capabilities are provided by a rheostat control (not shown) which controls the current supplied to the electromagnet to govern the amplitude of vibration of the feeder pan. The rate of flow of the material of the feeder pan 11 will increase as the amplitude of vibration of the pan is increased.

The feeder pan 1] and drive housing 26 are suspended above the container conveyor 34 on support assemblies 29. A plurality of support brackets 28 are attached to the feed pan 11 and the drive housing 26. Each support assembly 29 includes an elongated support bolt 30 which extends upwardly through a support bracket 28 to a support member designated generally at 32, which may be a support frame or a structural member of the building in which the unit is housed. A compression spring 31 encompasses each support bolt 30 between the head of the bolt and the support bracket 28 to provide a resilient and shock absorbing mounting for the feeder pan 11 and drive housing 26 without restricting vibratory movement.

Vibration of the feeder pan 11 in the previously described manner causes the particular material to move longitudinally along the pan feed surface 1 la from beneath the supply hopper 19 toward the elongated slot 12. The flow of material along the feed surface is regulated and maintained constant by a vertically adjustable metering gate 22 slideably mounted on the hopper forward wall 19a by channel guides 24, as shown in FIG. 3. The metering gate 22 is adjusted to a selected fixed vertical position and retained in such position by tightening retaining bolt 25. The lower metering edge 23 of the metering gate 22 is thereby maintained a desired spaced distance above the feed surface 11a of the feeder pan 11 to provide the desired rate of feed for a given drive unit speed.

As the particulate material which moves longitudinally across the feed surfaces 11a due to vibration of the feeder pan 1 1 reaches the slot 12 it will fall over the edges of the slot and into the containers 16 moving along the conveyor 34 beneath the slot. The material will continue to approach and fall through the slot 12 along the entire length of the slot. The slot 12 should be of sufficient length to accommodate high can line speeds and a variety of products havng different feeding characteristics. The longer the slot, the greater the length of the effective feed area of the feeder pan. Typically, a 30 inch length will be adequate for most applications.

The material moving along the feed surface on either side of the slot 12 is preferably channeled toward the slot by one or more pairs of adjustable plows 44 best shown in FIGS. 3 and 5. Plows 44 each have a vertical blade 44a and a horizontal slotted flange 44b. Each blade 44a extends diagonally inward from a point of attachment to a vertical side 13 of the feeder pan 11 toward the feed slot 12. The blade 44a is flexible and may be fixed at the desired angle by bolt and nut assembly 45 engaging the slotted flange 44b and the slotted support bracket 46. Fixed plows 47 channel into the feed slot 12 substantially all particulate material which does not previously fall into the slot. Accordingly, substantially all of the particulate material metered across the feed surface 11a from the supply hopper 19 is fed through the feeder pan 11 along the length of the feed slot 12.

The illustrated conveyor includes a pair of parallel side plates 37 between which are mounted a plurality of pulleys shown in dotted line in FIG. 1. A plastic covered drive cable 38 driven by variable speed motor 39 is carried on the pulleys such that the rope 38 projects above the side plates 37 for substantially the entire length of the side plates to support and convey containers beneath the feeder pan 11 in a continuous manner. As best shown in FIG. 2, a guide rail assembly 40 extends outwardly and upwardly from each side plate 37 to provide lateral support for the containers 16 on the conveyor 34. Each guide rail assembly includes a plurality of support posts 41 extending outwardly and upwardly from the side plates 37, and a pair of horizontal guide rails 42 supported by the support posts to slideably engage the containers 16. Adjustment means (not shown) may preferably be provided to permit adjustment of the guide rails 42 inwardly or outwardly to accommodate different sized containers.

As best seen in FIG. 3, the total exposed area between the cylindrical containers passing beneath the slot 12 is relatively limited and restricted as compared to the area within the containers. The relative proportions of the exposed area between the containers and the area within the containers will, of course, depend upon the diameter of the containers and the width of the slot 12. Normally, the slot adjustment plates 14 will be adjusted to provide the minimum width slot 12 which will handle the material being filled at the required rate of fill. With containers of rectangular cross section, there is no substantial exposed space between containers. The linear container conveyor 34 extends beneath the feeder pan 11 in substantially parallel spaced relation. As viewed in FIG. 3 the longitudinal conveyor axis 35 is located directly beneath the longitudinal feed slot axis 36 so that the containers on the conveyor 34 will be transversely centered on the feed slot 12 as they pass along the conveyor beneath the feeder pan 11. Since the feeder pan 11 vibrates in the same longitudinal direction as the container line, the containers remain transversely centered on the slot 12 despite vibratory movement of the feeder pan. Accordingly, the proportion of material which passes through the slot 12 but misses the container 16 is minimized in all cases, and substantially eliminated with rectangular containers.

Because the particulate material is fed into the containers 16 along the entire length of the elongated feed slot 13, the containers may be conveyed at high speed on conveyor 34 without risk of underfill. Conventional vibrator means (not shown) may be employed with conveyor 34 to vibrate the containers 16 during filling to cause the particulate material to settle in the can to the desired density.

A conveyor system shown schematically by line 43 may preferably extend beneath the conveyor 34 to receive particulate material which falls from the feeder pan ll between the containers l6, and to return the particulate material to the feeder pan 11 or supply hopper 19, as shown. Any suitable conveyor means may be used for that purpose. We have found that by adjustment of the speed of the container conveyor 34, the feed rate of the vibratory drive unit 27 and the position of the metering gate 22, we have been able to fill containers on a high speed, continuous basis with a high degree of uniformity, and with minimal recycling of material.

It is understood that our invention is not limited to the particular construction or arrangement of parts herein illustrated and described, but embraces all such modifications thereof as come within the scope of the following claims.

I claim:

1. A machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material comprising, conveyor means for continuously conveying open containers longitudinally through the machine in upright position, an elongated feeder pan having a feed surface with an elongated feed slot therein, said slot being defined by a pair of opposed longitudinal edges, said pan being supported above said conveyor means in spaced relation with the longitudinal axis of said slot substantially directly above the longitudinal axis of said conveyor means, and means for longitudinally vibrating said pan to feed particulate material thereon along said feed surface and through said slot.

2. The filling machine described in claim 1 wherein the width of said elongated slot is no greater than the width of the open ends of the containers being filled as measured transversely to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor means.

3. The filling machine described in claim 1 including means for adjusting the width of the elongated feed slot.

4. The filling machine described in claim 3 wherein the slot adjusting means comprises a pair of elongated plates secured to the bottom of said feeder pan on opposite sides of said slot, said plates being transversely adjustable to extend inwardly from the sides of said slot to effectively decrease the width of said slot.

5. The filling machine described in claim 1 wherein plow means extend diagonally inward across the feed surface toward the elongated slot for urging particulate material being fed along said feed surface toward the longitudinal edges of said slot.

6. The filling machine described in claim 1 including means for metering a uniform depth of particulate material across said feed surface in advance of said elongated slot.

7. The filling machine described in claim 1 including means for supplying particulate material to the feeder pan, said means having a hopper with an outlet emptying onto the feed surface in advance of said elongated slot, and wherein a vertically adjustable metering gate having a lower metering edge spaced a desired distance above said feed surface and substantially parallel thereto extends transversely to the extended longitudinal axis of said slot between said hopper outlet and said slot.

8. The filling machine described in claim 1 wherein return conveyor means are provided for receiving particulate material which drops through said slot and is not received by a container and returning said material to said feeder pan.

9. A machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material comprising, a conveyor means for continuously conveying open containers longitudinally through the machine in upright position, an elongated feeder pan supported above said conveyor means in spaced relation, said feeder pan having a feed surface and at least one longitudinal feed edge extending above and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said conveyor means, means for supplying particulate material to said pan, means for longitudinally vibrating said pan to cause particulate material thereon to move longitudinally along said feed surface, and means for urging said material transversely over said longitudinal feed edge.

10. The filling machine described in claim 9 wherein the means for urging particulate material transversely over the feed edge comprises plow means extending diagonally inward across the feed surface toward the slot.

11. A machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material comprising, conveyor means for continuously conveying open containers longitudinally through the machine in upright position, an elongated feeder pan having a feed surface with an elongated slot therein, said slot being defined by a pair of opposed longitudinal feed edges, said pan being supported above said conveyor means in spaced relation with the longitudinal axis of said slot substantially directly above the longitudinal axis of said conveyor means, a supply hopper having an outlet emptying onto the feed surface in advance of said elongated slot, means for metering a uniform depth of particulate material from said hopper across said feed surface, and means for longitudinally vibrating said pan to feed particulate material deposited thereon by said hopper longitudinally along said feed surface and through said elongated slot.

12. The filling machine described in claim 11 including means for urging the particulate material transversely over the longitudinal feed edges of said slot.

13. The filling machine described in claim 11 wherein return conveyor means are provided for receiving particulate material which drops through said slot and is not received by a container and returning said material to said feeder pan.

UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE CERTIFICATE 0 F (10R RECTION 3, 800, 837 April 2 1974 Patent No. I hated Inventor(s) Edwin P181187 Dennis O. Mietzel It is certified that error appears in the above-identified patent and that said Letters Patent are hereby corrected as shown below:

Title Page: --Assignee: Hughes Company, Inc., Columbus,

Wisconsin-- Column 2, Line 51 "out" should be --our--;

Column 3, Line 23' "of" should read -on--;

Column 3; Line4l "particular" should be particulate--;

Column 4, Line 67;"slot 13" should be Slot 12-- Signed and sealed this 17th day of September 1974.

(SEAL) Attest:

McCOY M, GIBSON JR. 7 C. MARSHALL DANN Attesting Officer Commissioner of Patents (mm r-wmso (IO--69) USCOMWDC 6037 P69 9 U S GOVERNMENT PRINTING OFFICE: I969 O -334 

1. A machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material comprising, conveyor means for continuously conveying open containers longitudinally through the machine in upright position, an elongated feeder pan having a feed surface with an elongated feed slot therein, said slot being defined by a pair of oppoSed longitudinal edges, said pan being supported above said conveyor means in spaced relation with the longitudinal axis of said slot substantially directly above the longitudinal axis of said conveyor means, and means for longitudinally vibrating said pan to feed particulate material thereon along said feed surface and through said slot.
 2. The filling machine described in claim 1 wherein the width of said elongated slot is no greater than the width of the open ends of the containers being filled as measured transversely to the longitudinal axis of the conveyor means.
 3. The filling machine described in claim 1 including means for adjusting the width of the elongated feed slot.
 4. The filling machine described in claim 3 wherein the slot adjusting means comprises a pair of elongated plates secured to the bottom of said feeder pan on opposite sides of said slot, said plates being transversely adjustable to extend inwardly from the sides of said slot to effectively decrease the width of said slot.
 5. The filling machine described in claim 1 wherein plow means extend diagonally inward across the feed surface toward the elongated slot for urging particulate material being fed along said feed surface toward the longitudinal edges of said slot.
 6. The filling machine described in claim 1 including means for metering a uniform depth of particulate material across said feed surface in advance of said elongated slot.
 7. The filling machine described in claim 1 including means for supplying particulate material to the feeder pan, said means having a hopper with an outlet emptying onto the feed surface in advance of said elongated slot, and wherein a vertically adjustable metering gate having a lower metering edge spaced a desired distance above said feed surface and substantially parallel thereto extends transversely to the extended longitudinal axis of said slot between said hopper outlet and said slot.
 8. The filling machine described in claim 1 wherein return conveyor means are provided for receiving particulate material which drops through said slot and is not received by a container and returning said material to said feeder pan.
 9. A machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material comprising, a conveyor means for continuously conveying open containers longitudinally through the machine in upright position, an elongated feeder pan supported above said conveyor means in spaced relation, said feeder pan having a feed surface and at least one longitudinal feed edge extending above and substantially parallel to the longitudinal axis of said conveyor means, means for supplying particulate material to said pan, means for longitudinally vibrating said pan to cause particulate material thereon to move longitudinally along said feed surface, and means for urging said material transversely over said longitudinal feed edge.
 10. The filling machine described in claim 9 wherein the means for urging particulate material transversely over the feed edge comprises plow means extending diagonally inward across the feed surface toward the slot.
 11. A machine for continuously filling containers with particulate material comprising, conveyor means for continuously conveying open containers longitudinally through the machine in upright position, an elongated feeder pan having a feed surface with an elongated slot therein, said slot being defined by a pair of opposed longitudinal feed edges, said pan being supported above said conveyor means in spaced relation with the longitudinal axis of said slot substantially directly above the longitudinal axis of said conveyor means, a supply hopper having an outlet emptying onto the feed surface in advance of said elongated slot, means for metering a uniform depth of particulate material from said hopper across said feed surface, and means for longitudinally vibrating said pan to feed particulate material deposited thereon by said hopper longitudinally along said feed surface and through said elongated slot.
 12. The filling machine described in claim 11 including means for urging the particulate material transversely over the longitudinal feed edges of said slot.
 13. The filling machine described in claim 11 wherein return conveyor means are provided for receiving particulate material which drops through said slot and is not received by a container and returning said material to said feeder pan. 